by Dawn McClure
“Good news is that your dad has no more blood clots. His blood pressure is still a little high, but nothing like it's been and nothing a few pills can’t handle. He's definitely on the mend this time, and we're ready to get home.”
“As long as he doesn't go home and overdo it,” Misty said, slanting a look at his dad. “We all know how you are. Just remember what I said: David has it covered, so you don't need to worry.”
“So you said.”
His dad cast another look David’s way, but it wasn't laced with disappointment or dislike. He had no idea what his dad was thinking or feeling, because David couldn’t quite read him, but he had the sense it wasn’t bad.
When Misty walked up to stand next to David and slipped her hand in his, as though they’d been dating for months, his father noticed. He looked David straight in the eye and raised an eyebrow in question.
“We're going to head back,” David said, wanting to avoid the questions that were sure to start flying all over the cramped hospital room. Even his mother’s gaze had zeroed in on their linked hands, although she didn’t give them a questioning look. She just looked happy as a pig in shit. “We’ve got a long drive and I have to get back to the ranch.”
His dad, still looking at him, smiled like he'd smiled at Misty earlier. Sincere. Real. “You make sure you take that young woman out to lunch.”
David nodded. Last they’d spoke, Big Mike had told him to forget about Misty. Between the undeserved smile his father had given him and the bizarre order to take Misty out to lunch, David needed to get outside to gulp down some fresh air. The conversation had become so foreign that he felt as though the walls of the hospital were closing in on him.
“See you tomorrow,” Misty said, tugging on David’s hand.
He let her lead him out of the room, still so confused at the change in his dad that he might have walked into a wall otherwise.
Chapter 17
Misty reached for another piece of pizza from the cardboard box sitting on the coffee table. She eyeballed the mostly untouched slice Caroline left on her plate. Didn't sluts have cellulite too?
After visiting Big Mike in the hospital, Misty and David had run the errand to get Nora some fresh flowers, but had headed straight home after that. David had seemed tense, and they’d skipped lunch. Once they arrived back at the ranch they had gone straight to work on the house, finishing up a few odds and ends. Frankly, she was starving and didn't care if she looked like a cow next to Caroline.
She checked her watch. A little over eight thousand steps today. Not horrible.
She and David hadn't had much time to test out their new relationship status, which was somewhere between an old married couple and fresh-off-their-first-date. There certainly wasn't a name for what they were. They were a few beers too many for a six-pack and a few short of a twelve-pack. And they'd bypassed all the coyness to settle for exactly what was on their minds. That kiss in the hayloft had turned into a whole lotta hands in a whole lotta interesting places. She could swear she still felt his hands on her.
They were something of a hybrid.
“Shit, I love this movie. Leave it here,” Matt said.
David quit channel surfing and grabbed his pop off the coffee table. She sat on the floor in front of the TV, with Caroline on the couch next to David, and Matt in the recliner. The seating arrangement wasn’t quite the way Misty would prefer, but when she'd gone into the kitchen to get the pops, Caroline had parked her tiny ass next to David. Misty hadn't been in the mood to do the whole “he's my man” in front of her brother quite yet, so she’d left it alone.
“Oh, Marlon Brandon is hot,” Caroline said, scooting closer to David.
Misty stopped with her third pizza slice halfway to her mouth, not sure if she'd heard Caroline correctly. “It's Marlon Brando.” At least tonight Caroline was in a pair of sweats and a tank top that covered most of her breasts. “And he's not good-looking in The Godfather. Al Pacino's the hot one.”
“Who?” Caroline asked.
Misty, having grown up with Matt and David, had rarely been given the privilege to pick the movies they’d watched together. She’d always been outnumbered. And by the time she was old enough to throw her weight around, she'd been so accustomed to guy flicks that she'd grown to like them. Caroline had grown up with one sister, so they'd probably watched movies like Clueless. “Michael Corleone.”
“I don't know who that is.”
Misty shook her head and glanced at Matt. He was openly gawking at Caroline. How many times had they watched The Godfather? It was the best movie ever made. Period.
“How the hell do you not know this movie?” Matt asked.
Caroline shrugged, then nudged David's leg with hers. “You remember that date you took me on where we watched that crazy movie we both hated? What was it called? This reminds me of it.”
I am not going to get jealous over some movie date they went on years ago. Funny, she couldn't recall David ever talking about going on a date with... No, I'm just not going there. She knew he’d hung out with Caroline their senior year. No harm, no foul. Misty took another bite of pizza and pretended she was watching the movie, when all she really wanted to do was turn to David and ask him what Caroline was talking about. Lord, but she couldn't wait to get the hell away from Caroline.
Damn. But that would leave Caroline here with David while Misty was four hours away. She swiped that jealousy down too. She honestly didn't believe David would do anything with Caroline. They'd cleared all that bullshit up at the shooting range. Didn't happen back then and wouldn't happen now.
“I don't remember,” David said, getting up from the couch. “Anyone need another pop?”
Misty raised her pizza in the air, knowing he was trying to flee the scene of a crime and feeling a little weird about it. He hadn't asked her on a date, but he had asked out Caroline? When had they gone on this little date?
“Matt? You want a beer while I'm up?”
“Yeah, I'll take another.”
When David came back, he handed her and Matt their cans, then sat back on the couch just about as far away from Caroline as he could get. You just scored one point.
Some time went by in silence, and then Caroline perked up again. “Oh, come on. You remember,” Caroline purred, turning away from the TV to give David her full attention.
Obviously, Caroline wasn't about to let this go. Misty kept her gaze on the scene where Sonny gets smoked at the toll gate. She didn't really feel like listening to Caroline recall some date her and David went on. To be honest, Misty wondered why David never told her the two had gone on a date. Apparently, he’d been infatuated with her all his life, but he'd never asked her out on a date. Interesting.
“I really don't remember,” David muttered.
Misty took a drink of her pop, hoping the extra carbonation would numb the few nerves Caroline managed not to get on. Maybe she should switch to beer.
“The hell you don't. I was your first kiss, remember? You said so yourself.”
Misty's throat did a jump and bump, and the carbonated beverage went down the wrong way. As she was doing her best to keep the shit from coming out of her nose, she could hear Caroline laughing. One point retracted.
“Take it he didn't tell you about that?”
Smooth move, Misty. Play it cool. Whatthefuckever. She blamed it on the pop. “Just went down the wrong way,” she choked out. She still couldn't breathe right. Her eyes watered. Her nose stung. She glanced at her brother through the tears. Back me up, bro.
“You were just about everyone's first kiss, Caroline. Easy was your middle name.”
God bless you, Matt. Misty wanted to knuckle bump her brother for the well-placed insult, as was their norm, but still didn't want to look as though any of this was getting to her. It was, but that didn't matter. David had said last night that he and Caroline had never slept together. Guess she shouldn't have been so specific. Her jealous mind was wondering if it had been a quick peck on the mouth o
r a full-out make-out session.
David remained amazingly silent as he sat there on the couch.
Caroline threw her legs over David's thighs and laughed again. Misty was not going to bite. David politely asked her to move, and she did, but giggled as though he were playing. “Oh, come on. Did I embarrass you?”
“No, but you're annoying the shit out of me,” David said.
“That's not what you were saying that night at the movies.”
Misty wanted to throat punch her. Why did the woman have to act like that? Misty didn't want to act like a shrew, because the house could only contain one of those, but she couldn't help but quip, “Must not have been very good if he can't even remember it.”
Oh, he remembered it all right. She could tell by the way he was acting. But she’d wanted to throw that dig out there. Actually, she wanted to do so much more than that. Caroline had been pouring salt on this particular wound for weeks.
Challenging Caroline was a dumb move on her part. Misty should have remembered the rules when dealing with a rank bitch. Rule number one: you can't out-bitch a true bitch.
Caroline smiled at her in such a way that Misty wanted to package deliver her ass straight to hell. Caroline drawled out, “You're just jealous I was his first kiss.”
Misty probably shouldn't say what she was about to say, but her mouth started moving and she couldn't stop the words that shot out—even with her brother in the room. “Now, why would I be jealous of a little kiss when I was the one who took his virginity?” she asked with a forced smile. Checkmate, bitch.
Rule number two: true bitches always have a better comeback.
Caroline narrowed her eyes, and her mascara-laden lashes almost touched her cheeks. “He may not have remembered our kiss, but he sure seemed to want to forget what y’all did. Hell, he joined the Marines just to get away from you.”
The next few minutes were a blur of mascara and cheap hair extensions.
Misty didn't remember clearing the coffee table. Didn't recall the exact moment she’d snatched Caroline's fake-ass hair in her left fist and threw a punch with her right.
She might not be able to out-bitch a true bitch, but she sure could kick her ass.
And this ass-kicking was a long time in coming.
David nearly shit a brick when Misty went flying over the coffee table. At first, he was too stunned to move. Then he saw Misty land a solid punch to Caroline's face, and it was Caroline’s howl of pain that finally snapped him out of shock. Like a firecracker was suddenly shoved up his ass, he shot up from the couch and grabbed Misty around the middle and lifted her off the ground.
She had a vice-grip on Caroline's hair and Caroline was screeching in a frequency he’d have sworn only dogs could hear. Matt came around the coffee table to help untangle the two women, slow as shit because he was doubled over laughing so hard.
Meanwhile Misty, with her feet still off the ground and all her weight on David's forearm, socked Caroline again, this time square in the nose. She yelled something about Caroline being a slut-bag and then tried kicking him to get loose.
“Hey now!” he yelled when she connected with his knee. “That's enough!”
He barely managed to duck the elbow headed straight for his face when she cocked her fist back again, like Tyson taking on Holyfield. He grabbed her by the arm and prevented her from giving Caroline a black eye or worse. He hadn’t seen this side of Misty in years. She’d been a bit of a scrapper when she’d been younger. David recalled the time that Ron, a boy who’d been a grade ahead of them in high school, had pinched her ass when they’d been competing at a rodeo.
Safe to say he’d never pulled that shit again.
Matt finally managed to untangle them, but David was still struggling with holding Misty back. With her feet still off the ground she yelled, “Why are you here? No one wants you here! Jesus, you're such a slut! Take a hint and just leave!”
Caroline, her hair resembling a wild bird's nest, feeling somewhat safe with David holding Misty back, countered, “You might call me a slut, and maybe I am, but I would never have gone back to a man who did me like he did you. Yeah, I might be a slut, but you're stupid as hell.”
Caroline pushed past Matt and headed to her room with a hand covering her bloody nose. She turned back to Misty just as she got to the hallway. “And I'm the one who tagged your truck. Bitch.”
Misty made some kind of growling noise and shoved against David. He managed to hold her in place even though she was squirming. Caroline slammed the door to her room, so he semi-released Misty. “What got into you?” he demanded.
She whirled on him. “She did! I'm damn sick of her. She did everything she could to get under my skin for the past few weeks. And you're a liar.” She spit that last part out so forcefully that he immediately cupped himself, thinking she was going to follow it up with a little knee-action.
Instead, she snatched her arm from his grip and slammed out of the house to leave him and Matt alone in the living room together.
For a few seconds he didn’t say anything. It felt as though another tornado had come through town and hit the living room head-on. What the hell had just happened?
He glanced at Matt, who retrieved his beer off the coffee table with a smile. “I taught her how to throw a punch by the way.”
That was a damn lie, because David was the one who'd taught her. He wasn't about to get into an argument right now though. Enough punches had been thrown today. He was still having a hard time believing she’d vaulted over the coffee table like she had, even after seeing the acrobatic stunt with his own eyes. “You sure took your sweet ass time getting those two apart.”
Matt threw his arms wide. “Misty had a death grip on Caroline’s hair.” He bent over and picked up a long, red patch of hair that had a clip on the end of it. “See? It was literally coming off her head.” He tossed it back down with a grimace. “That shit was something between a catfight and a cage fight.”
David ran a hand over his short hair and made his way toward Caroline's room. He'd forgotten all about the date he and Caroline had gone on because they'd never gone on another. He'd been too embarrassed to tell any of the guys that he had taken her out, but it hadn’t really been a date. The only reason he'd taken Caroline out in the first place was because he'd overheard her tell someone that she'd never been to the movie theater in town. Not once. He’d felt bad for her shitty upbringing, so he’d taken her to the movies.
After the movie she’d pinned him with a kiss. To be honest it hadn’t been a huge deal. He’d told her he wasn’t interested in her and the whole thing had been forgotten. But now? Now it was a huge deal, and Caroline knew just where to thrust the knife. He and Misty had just scored a truce, and now it looked as though he'd lied by omission. He was never pulling the Good Samaritan act with Caroline again. Ever.
He knocked on Caroline's door. She said nothing, so he opened it and let himself in. She was sitting on the bed with a wad of toilet paper held against her nose and had her head tilted back.
“What?” she asked, her voice muffled.
“What the hell was that all about? And don't give me any shit because you knew what you were doing. You were baiting her on purpose.”
She pulled the bloody tissue from her nose. “I didn't think she'd go apeshit on me.”
Well that made two of them.
The old Misty’s coming back, little by little.
He shut the door behind him so they could have some privacy. One thing he'd learned about Caroline was that she was a different person when they were one-on-one. If Misty thought she could throw up a wall to keep someone out, she had nothing on Caroline.
“Caroline, this has got to stop, or you're going to have to leave.”
She put the tissue back against her nose and stared up at the ceiling, not answering him. He took a deep breath and wondered where all this was coming from. He didn't want to hurt Caroline. She'd been through too much. But how many times did he have to tell her there w
as nothing—absolutely nothing—between them? He'd thought she would finally get a clue when he'd told her at the Roadhouse that he and Misty were on a date. Obviously he’d been wrong.
Caroline wouldn't look at him. Wouldn't speak to him. He moved to stand in front of her. “Why do you keep trying to rile Misty? You know I want to be with her. Always have. I gave you a place to stay, but you’re making me regret my decision.”
Caroline shrugged. “Because she pisses me off. Her life is perfect. She's always looked down on me.”
“The hell she has. Misty's not like that, and you damn well know it. We've had this conversation before, Caroline, back in high school. You set yourself up when it comes to what people say about you. In fact, you act out just to give them something to talk about. When is it going to end? Why are you constantly pushing people away? I thought we were friends, but ever since I came back you've been acting like I'm your next meal. Where is all this coming from? I thought we were past this.”
She dabbed at her nose and then got up from the bed and threw the tissue in the trash. When she faced him, she looked mad as hell. “She didn’t even want to speak to you two weeks ago. And suddenly the two of you are right where you left off. What’s so damned special about her?”
“Because it was always her. One day you'll know what that feels like.” He shrugged, not knowing how to put into words what he felt toward Misty. “It's almost like you don't have a choice in the matter. Caroline, if you just stopped trying to rile everyone who crosses your path, you'd get along better with people. They'd see you the way I see you when we hang out. But you have to let go of the poor me routine. Leave the past where it should be.”
He turned to leave, figuring she wasn’t going to listen to what he had to say anyway, but stopped with the door partially open. “Caroline, you said you were only staying for a week or so, and you haven’t mentioned anything about moving out. I'm going to give you one more week. I know there are other places you can go. They may not be ideal, but you’ve given me no other choice. You know I'm here if you need anything, but Misty's leaving for Rapid, and your being here is not going to help my relationship with her.” If she'll even talk to me now.